Transcript Growth of the Transportation System Stagecoaches  Expansion & settlement into the West created the need for fast, efficient, and economical means of transportation &

Growth of the
Transportation System
Stagecoaches

Expansion & settlement into the West created
the need for fast, efficient, and economical
means of transportation & communication.
 1857: Wells, Faro & Company organized a
stagecoach service from St. Louis to San
Francisco
The Pony Express

Early 1860s: Wells, Faro & Company added the
Pony Express service
– Involved 150 stations stocked w/fresh horses
– Pony Express guaranteed delivery of a letter from
Missouri to California w/in 10 days!
Job advertisement for the Pony Express.
Look closely at the requirements.
Telegraph
Within 18 months of the Pony Service, the
telegraph was introduced
 Pony Service was abandoned
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See page 57, figure 5.6
Pacific Railroad Act, 1862

Authorized a route from Omaha, Nebraska, to
San Francisco, California.
 See page 58, figure 5.7
– This image shows many railroad tracks, crisscrossing
all over the United States.
– Building the railroad could not have been possible
w/out the substantial land grants from the US gov’t to
the railroad companies
• Land grants financed construction
• Companies received 120km right of way => 60 km on either
side of the rail line
• Value of this land increased w/the coming of the railway b/se
it was close to the line
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1920: peak of railroad construction w/420,000
km of track
Automobiles
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1900: 8,000 automobiles in the US
1920: 8 million cars, 1 million trucks
Look at the increase in production in only 20 years!
What would an increase of automobiles be
dependent on?
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The increase in the importance of the automobile
was dependent on the growth of a network of roads.
1904: rural roads were dirt tracks
1924: 750,000 km of rural highways w/paved
surfaces
New highways added at a rate of 60,000 km/year
=> annual cost: $1 billion
The rate of transportation expansion and
development was exponential
Automobiles versus Train
1920s: automobile rivaled the train as a
means of passenger transportation.
 Automobiles soon became more popular
than trains for short- and long-distance
transportation.
 Trains continue to be important for longdistance freight transportation

Development of the highway system
Just like the railroads, the American gov’t helped finance
the development of the highway system.
 1956: Federal Aid Highway Act

August 13, 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson
signs the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1964
Role of the government

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Gov’t involvement in creation of an efficient transportation
network is one of the important functions of a gov’t.
What were the effects of this kind of gov’t funding for
transportation development?
Recent transportation changes
1945: changes in transportation patterns
since the end of WWII
 1940s-1950s
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– Airports were small
– Commercial aircrafts could only carry 20-40
passengers
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Late 1960s
– Boeing 747 carries 500 passengers
– 60 million people flew annually
Recent transportation changes,
continued…
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Now
– Chicago’s O’Hare Airport (busiest in the USA)
handles 60 million passengers/year on almost
800,000 flights
• Peak periods: 210 takeoffs & landings/hr
– Tuesday, October 16, 2007: first Airbus A380
superjumbo, the world's biggest commercial
passenger jet, is unveiled
• 471 seats, 12 first class, 60 business class and 399
economy
• Each aircraft has 12 suites, each one a private
compartment with sliding doors and fabric screens
– The bed was on display on Monday, bedecked with
champagne, strawberries and a scattering of red petals
Railroads decline
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Railroads have not shared in the post-war growth
 Rail traffic has declined to the point where
companies are not making profits anymore
Recent Population & Migration Patterns

Present population distribution reflects historical
settlement patterns
– Early settlements have remained the most
heavily populated areas
– Recent settlements are less populated
 Past 50 years: movement from northern states
(Frost Belt) to southern states (Sun Belt)
 This move has created new industries in the
Sun Belt
Recent Population & Migration Patterns,
continued…
 Texas & California have become high-growth
states with high-tech industries
 Alaska & Wyoming have grown b/se of their
natural resources
Recent Population & Migration
Patterns, continued…

States that have experienced the least growth:
 North
 Northeast
 “Smokestack” industry states
 Traditional secondary industries (steel mills &
factories), that were characterized by the use of coal
& petroleum as energy sources
 These type of states often have poor air quality b/se
of air pollution from the factories
 Examples of industry:
 Iron
 Steel making
 Why are they experiencing a decline?
 Offshore competition
 Aging factories
Factors Affecting
Industrial Locations
*** Types of Industries ***
Construction
Steel
Automobile
Primary
Secondary
Mining
Fishing
Farming
Doctors
Teachers
INDUSTRY
Tertiary
Lawyers
Barbers
Cooks
Mechanics
PRIMARY INDUSTRY
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Industries based on the extraction of natural
resources
Also known as resource industries
Examples: mining, fishing, forestry, & farming
SECONDARY INDUSTRY
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Further process the raw materials supplied by primary
industries
For example: growing farming is a primary industry, but
manufacturing clothes from the cotton is a secondary
industry
Examples: construction, automobile, & steel industries
Also includes machinery & equipment used in factories
Non-durable goods: those that are consumed
 Examples: food, clothing
TERTIARY INDUSTRY
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Provide services
Categories: transportation, public utilities,
wholesale & retail trade, finance, insurance,
& real estate
Examples of employees: barbers, cooks,
mechanics, lawyers, doctors, & teachers
Locating Secondary Industries
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Some of the factors that influence the
location of secondary industries are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Market
Cost & skills of labour
Raw materials
Fuel & power
Site & services
Climate
Gov’t intervention
Geographical inertia
1. The Market Factor
Location w/in the market is important
 Need a good location to reduce
transportation costs & to provide aftersales service
 For example: perishable products are
manufactured close to their markets to
avoid spoiling
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Cost & skills of labour
Both cost & quality determine location of
industry
 Wages for workers are a significant cost
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– Have become more important than
transportation costs
– Especially true in producing electrical &
electronic goods
Raw materials
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Location of raw materials influences location of industry
 Some industries use a lot of natural resources & produce a lot of
waste
 For example: iron & steel industries
– Finished product is only one-quarter of the weight of the
original raw materials
– Processing plants located near the raw materials
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In some cases, it is easier or
less expensive to move the
finished goods, so these
industries locate themselves
near their markets
Fuel and power
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During the IR, water power from rivers & coal from coal
fields were important in determining the location of the
industry
– Remember Moses Brown’s textile mill at Pawtucket,
Rode Island
– Most textile mills were located alongside rivers or
water sources b/se the water provided power
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The location of power
does not play as big
a role in determining
the location of the
industry b/se power
can be transported in
the form of electricity
Site and services
Flat land is needed for car manufacturing,
oil refining, aircraft production,
manufacturing of recreational vehicles
 Gov’t try to attract industries by providing
industrial parks that are designed
specifically for industries to set up new
facilities
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Climate
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In the past, climate was an important factor in
determining location of the industry.
 For example, the damp climate of Britain and the
New England states (USA) helped the textile
industries by making the fiber easier to work
with.
 Now climate can be artificially controlled.
 Exception: film industry in Hollywood
– Warm, sunny climate for filming
Gov’t intervention
Gov’t tries to attract the manufacturing
industry by offering special incentives
 See textbook, page 65, figure 5.9
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– Advertisement paid for by the gov’t of the
state of Vermont to attract companies
Geographical inertia
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Sometimes a manufacturing plan will be in
what seems like a bad location => but
locations change over time, so what may
have been a good place to build a plant
has now deteriorated
Production Cycle
Location of Service Industries
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Growth rate for service industries (tertiary industries) is
much faster than for primary or secondary industries
But locating a service industry is not as complex as
locating a manufacturing industry
Service industries are generally located where people
live
Every city needs plumbers, teachers, entertainers, and
lawyers
As cities grow, more services are needed
– For example, b/se of Calgary’s rapid boom, we are
dangerously short of doctors
Some specialized services are only located in federal
and state capital cities (usually gov’t services)